How to downgrade iOS 9.3.2 on iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch

Apple has recently rolled out the iOS 9.3.2 upgrade for its iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch devices with a spate of bug fixes and security enhancements.

Despite adding a few performance improvements with Bluetooth and VoiceOver features, the new iOS update has drawn widespread criticism for bricking some 9in iPad Pro devices with 'Error 56' hardware problem.

Although there is no working solution available for this issue at the moment, affected users could try a few workarounds as suggested in our earlier IBTimes SG report.

If the 'Error 56' still persists, we advise you to downgrade the firmware to an earlier version such as 9.3.1 or 9.3.0 as Apple is yet to release a bug-fix update for this widespread issue.

Also, power-hungry users who are dissatisfied with the efficiency and performance of iOS 9.3.2 on older hardware may go ahead and downgrade the same, using our step-by-step guide posted below.

Meanwhile, avid jailbreakers have no joy downgrading to earlier versions as Apple has stopped signing older versions of iOS except for iOS 9.3.1 and there is no working jailbreak available for iOS 9.2 through iOS 9.3.2.

Consequently, your only craving to downgrade could be the lack of performance, persistent 'Error 56' messages or severe battery drain issues with the new update.

Note: Back up important data and settings on the iOS device, before you proceed to avoid unexpected data loss during the downgrade process.

Before you try restoring the device, you need to perform a few preliminary steps:

Launch the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad. Then select iCloud > Find My iPhone and then disable this feature.

Plug-in your iPhone or iPad to a Mac or Windows computer (PC) using the device's original USB cable.

Ensure the latest version of iTunes is installed on the computer and let iTunes detect your device. Then select the device from the list and choose Summary tab to view the relevant hardware info about the connected device.

Now you are ready to restore the device to a more stable version of iOS. Hold Shift key in windows or Option/Alt key (Mac) while clicking the Restore iPhone button in iTunes.

Finally, select the appropriate IPSW firmware file for your device from the list of download links and follow the onscreen prompts in iTunes to complete the restore process. Once the device is restored to an earlier version, it should boot up successfully into the newly installed iOS firmware.